This was the first championship game for both the Redskins and the Western Division champion Green Bay Packers (10–1–1), who were favored.[10] The Packers won 21–6 for their fourth NFL title, all under longtime head coach Curly Lambeau. Green Bay won league championships awarded by league standing in 1929, 1930, and 1931.[11]

The Boston Redskins finished the 1936 season with a record of seven wins and five losses and finished in first place in the Eastern Division of the National Football League.

They won their final three games of the regular season to win the division title, the finale was a 14–0 shutout of the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds.The Redskins hosted the 1936 NFL Championship game against the favored Green Bay Packers, the Western Division champions with a 10–1–1 record and two regular season victories over Boston. The game was moved by owner George Preston Marshall from Fenway Park in Boston to the Polo Grounds in New York City to improve attendance. The Packers won the title game 21–6.This was the first winning season for the Redskins, as well as their first championship game appearance. It was also the last season that the Redskins played in Boston; days after the title game, Marshall announced the move to his hometown of Washington, D.C. for the 1937 season.

The 1937 National Football League Championship Game was the fifth championship game of the National Football League (NFL), held December 12 at Wrigley Field in Chicago with an attendance of 15,878. The game featured the Western Division champions Chicago Bears (9–1–1) and the Eastern Division champions Washington Redskins (8–3).

Donald Montgomery Hutson (January 31, 1913 – June 26, 1997) was a professional American football player and assistant coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played as a split end and spent his entire eleven-year professional career with the Green Bay Packers. Under head coach Curly Lambeau, Hutson led the Packers to four NFL Championship Games, winning three: 1936, 1939, and 1944.

In his senior season at the University of Alabama in 1934, Hutson was recognized as a consensus All-American and won a national championship with the Alabama Crimson Tide football team. After his career at Alabama, he joined the Packers in 1935 and played eleven seasons before he retired in 1945. He led the league in receiving yards in seven separate seasons and in receiving touchdowns in nine. A talented safety on defense, he also led the NFL in interceptions in 1940. Hutson was an eight-time All-Pro selection, a four-time All-Star, and was twice awarded the Joe F. Carr Trophy as the NFL Most Valuable Player.

Hutson is considered to have been the first modern receiver, and is credited with creating many of the modern pass routes used in the NFL today. He was the dominant receiver of his day, during which he was widely considered one of the greatest receivers in NFL history. He held almost all major receiving records at the time of his retirement, including career receptions, yards, and touchdowns. He was inducted as a charter member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Hutson's number 14 was the first jersey retired by the Packers, and he is a member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. In 1994, Hutson was selected for the National Football League 75th Anniversary All-Time Team as one of the greatest players of the NFL's first 75 years.

Edward "Ed" Smith (June 17, 1913 – January 29, 1998) was an American football running back in the National Football League for the Boston Redskins and Green Bay Packers. He played college football at New York University and was drafted in the third round of the 1936 NFL Draft.

During the 1935 football season, Smith posed for the Heisman Trophy study with the now-iconic straight or "stiff" arm.Sculptor Frank Eliscu asked Smith, his former high school classmate, to pose for a commissioned work involving a football player. They both attended George Washington High School in New York City's Washington Heights neighborhood. Smith did not realize that the sculpture, for which he posed, became the fabled Heisman Trophy until 1982. A documentary filmmaker tracked down Smith through his brother-in-law, Bob Pastor, a former heavyweight boxer who fought Joe Louis twice. The Downtown Athletic Club subsequently presented Smith with a Heisman Trophy of his own in 1985.

Smith was what sportswriters used to refer to as a triple-threat: he ran, passed and often quick-kicked in New York University's single-wing offense during the 1933–1935 seasons. Smith suffered a torn ligament in his left leg and a hemorrhage in his right leg and NYU went 3–4–1 in 1934. The 1935 Thanksgiving game was the last of Smith's collegiate career. The first Heisman Trophy presentation was on December 5, 1935.

The Boston Redskins drafted Smith in the NFL's first ever draft in February 1936. He was selected in round three, the #20 pick overall. Smith graduated from NYU in the spring of 1936 and proceeded to a career in professional football. The pay was $200 a game for the twelve-week season.

Smith played with the Redskins in the 1936 season. The Redskins played in the 1936 NFL Championship Game at New York's Polo Grounds on December 13, 1936. The Skins lost to the Green Bay Packers 21-6. Smith played with the Green Bay Packers under coach Curly Lambeau in the 1937 season. His ligament injury returned while playing in Green Bay and Smith left professional sports. He later played and coached semi-pro football in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1941. As player-coach, Smith again connected with Vince Lombardi, who played under Smith.

Smith and his wife Hilda lived most of their life in Washington Heights. Smith worked for Otis Elevator in the post-war era.

The Washington Redskins have played over 1,000 games. In those games, the club has won five professional American football championships including two NFL Championships and three Super Bowls. The franchise has also captured 15 NFL divisional titles and five NFC championships.The Redskins won the 1937 and 1942 Championship games, as well as Super Bowl XVII, XXII, and XXVI. They also played in and lost the 1936, 1940, 1943, and 1945 Championship games, as well as Super Bowl VII and XVIII. They have made 24 postseason appearances, and have an overall postseason record of 23 wins and 19 losses. Only five teams have appeared in more Super Bowls than the Redskins: the New England Patriots (eleven), Dallas Cowboys (eight), Pittsburgh Steelers (eight), Denver Broncos (eight), and the San Francisco 49ers (six); the Redskins’ five appearances are tied with the Oakland Raiders, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants, and Green Bay Packers.All of the Redskins’ league titles were attained during two ten-year spans. From 1936 to 1945, the Redskins went to the NFL Championship six times, winning two of them. The second period lasted between 1982 and 1991 where the Redskins appeared in the postseason seven times, captured four Conference titles, and won three Super Bowls out of four appearances in that time frame.The Redskins have also experienced failure in their history. The most notable period of failure was from 1946 to 1970, during which the Redskins did not have a single postseason appearance. During this period, the Redskins went without a single winning season between 1956 and 1968. In 1961, the franchise posted their worst regular season record with a 1–12–1 showing.According to Forbes Magazine, as of 2015, the Redskins are the third most valuable franchise in the NFL, valued at approximately $2.85 billion, having been surpassed only by the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots. As of 2016 they are also the world’s eighth most valuable sports team. In 2014, they generated an estimated of $439 million in revenue and reportedly netted $125 million. They have also broken the NFL’s mark for single-season attendance six years in a row from 1999 to 2005.

Milton Edward Gantenbein (May 31, 1910 – December 18, 1988) was an American football player who played on three championship teams, as an end and as a defensive end for the Green Bay Packers from 1931 to 1940.

The former University of Wisconsin–Madison standout was a member of three National Football League (NFL) championship teams under head coach Curly Lambeau. In 1931, his rookie year, the sure-handed Gantenbein was the perfect complement to deep-threat Laverne Dilweg in Lambeau's pass-oriented offense and was a solid addition at defensive end. Green Bay's defense limited opponents to 87 points and had five shutouts, while the Packer offense compiled 291 points in fashioning a 12-2 record and winning a third league championship title in the 1931 NFL season. Gantenbein continued as a two-way starter for the next three seasons, playing in the shadow of Dilweg and John McNally.

In the 1936 NFL season, Don Hutson and Gantenbein were the main targets in the Packers' record-setting passing attack, with 34 and 15 catches respectively. The duo was also instrumental in Green Bay's 21-6 victory over the Boston Redskins in the 1936 NFL Championship Game . Gantenbein iced the game with an 8-yard touchdown reception from Arnie Herber in the third quarter.

Gantenbein was named a team captain for the 1937 squad, and he again was a stalwart in the defensive line and the team's second leading receiver with 12 catches for 237 yards (19.8 yard average) and two touchdowns. In the 1937 NFL season, Green Bay slipped to 7–4. In the 1938 NFL season, the team had an 8-3 record and made it to the 1938 NFL Championship Game, where the Packers lost 23–17 to the Giants in New York.

In the 1939 NFL season, the Green Bay Packers struggled at times but posted a 9–2 record to gain a rematch with the New York Giants for the league title in the 1939 NFL Championship Game. This time the game was played on Wisconsin soil, and Gantenbein opened the scoring with a 7-yard touchdown reception from Arnie Herber. It would be all the points the Packers needed on a cold and windy afternoon at Wisconsin State Fair Park in Milwaukee, as they crushed the Giants, 27–0.

He was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1972 and finished his career with three NFL championships, 77 receptions, 1,299 yards and eight touchdowns. Milt played in 103 regular-season games as a Packer.

With his playing days behind him, Gantenbein went on to coach football at Manhattan College in New York for several years.

1 – From 1966 to 1969, the first four Super Bowls were "World Championship" games played between two independent professional football leagues, AFL and NFL, and when the league merged in 1970 the Super Bowl became the NFL Championship Game.2 – Dates in the list denote the season, not the calendar year in which the championship game was played. For instance, Super Bowl XLI was played in 2007, but was the championship for the 2006 season.

This page is based on a Wikipedia article written by authors
(here).
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.